A U/B control deck that counters and removes everything the opponent plays while Emeritus of Woe // Demonic Tutor grinds out card advantage from every creature death.
A defensive U/B control shell: hold up counterspells and removal, trade one-for-one until the opponent runs out of resources, then win with Massacre Wurm, Voracious Greatshark, or a grindy stream of drain triggers and free Demonic Tutors off Emeritus of Woe. You're not trying to race — you're trying to never lose the resource battle.
Roles
Counterspells: Essence Scatter, Disdainful Stroke, Negate, Refute — answer creatures and noncreature threats alike before they hit the board.
Removal: Hero's Downfall, Bake into a Pie, Bitter Triumph, Last Gasp, Moment of Craving, Tribute to Hunger, Foolish Fate — a deep, mostly instant-speed suite for anything that slips past your counters.
Board wipe / reset: Massacre Wurm punishes a wide board and drains life for every death, doubling as your top-end finisher.
Card advantage: Opt, Think Twice, Quick Study, Phyrexian Arena, and repeatable Demonic Tutor copies off Emeritus of Woe keep your hand full while you play defense.
Blockers/early defense: Vengeful Bloodwitch, Vampire Nighthawk (deathtouch + lifelink), Spectral Sailor (flash flier) hold the ground cheaply.
Finisher: Voracious Greatshark is a flash 5/5 that counters a creature or artifact spell on entry — it's both interaction and a clock.
Synergies & curve
Every removal spell and combat trade also feeds your death payoffs: Vengeful Bloodwitch and Kalastria Highborn drain life whenever a small creature (yours or theirs) dies, Arnyn punishes the same, and once two creatures have died in a turn, Emeritus of Woe becomes prepared for a free Demonic Tutor. Vile Entomber's deathtouch trades up and fills the graveyard. The curve is intentionally low on threats (only 17 creatures) and heavy on interaction, so you'll often be tapping out for a counterspell or removal spell on curve rather than deploying a board. Mana base leans black (10 Swamp) for the double- and triple-black costs (Massacre Wurm, Phyrexian Arena, Hero's Downfall, Vampire Nighthawk, Vile Entomber, Kalastria Highborn) while 6 Island + 1 Dimir Guildgate support your blue spells, none of which need more than UU.
Turn 4: opponent casts a 4-drop threat, you Disdainful Stroke it; they replay a smaller creature, you Last Gasp it and your own token trades in combat — two deaths trigger Emeritus of Woe, and you tutor up your last counterspell for their next play.
Weak spots
This is a slower, reactive deck: against very fast aggro you may not stabilize before counterspells and removal run out, since there's no true one-sided sweeper before Massacre Wurm (6 mana). The mana base has only one dual land, so double-blue costs on the wrong draw can be awkward. You're also light on card selection to find lands early — mulligan decisions matter more than in the aggressive build.
2× Arnyn, Deathbloom Botanist
$0.35
2× Bake into a Pie
$0.20
1× Bitter Triumph
$0.33
1× Dimir Guildgate
$0.14
3× Disdainful Stroke
$0.27
1× Emeritus of Woe // Demonic Tutor
$12.32
3× Essence Scatter
$0.18
2× Foolish Fate
$0.13
2× Hero's Downfall
$0.30
6× Island
$0.12
2× Kalastria Highborn
$0.15
2× Last Gasp
$0.10
1× Massacre Wurm
$1.70
1× Midnight Reaper
$0.24
1× Moment of Craving
$0.13
1× Negate
$0.37
3× Opt
$0.12
1× Phyrexian Arena
$4.28
1× Quick Study
$0.17
1× Refute
$0.25
2× Spectral Sailor
$0.22
1× Strix Lookout
$0.11
10× Swamp
$0.18
1× Think Twice
$0.20
1× Tribute to Hunger
$0.09
1× Vampire Nighthawk
$0.26
1× Vampiric Rites
$0.11
4× Vengeful Bloodwitch
$0.30
1× Vile Entomber
$0.24
1× Voracious Greatshark
$0.12
